Woman Gets Double Mastectomy, Birth Certificate Changed To Wed Woman

[skin]

Rich Juzwiak, Gawker
July 14, 2014

When Jacki decided she wanted to marry her girlfriend Christine, marriage wasn't yet legal in California, where they live. And so she hatched a plan: "I started looking into transgender," she says, as if it's a new diet or LASIK. "In the eyes of the courts, if I were to have my gender changed to male, just like that she gets my social security, she gets my pension." Jacki had a double mastectomy and her gender on her birth certificate changed to "male." She still goes by "Jacki," and Christine still refers to her as "she."

More: http://gawker.com/shes-genderqueer-of-some-sort-shes-willing-to-undergo-1604725972

[skin]

Be warned this is pretty disgusting to watch.  The video makes it seem like some heartwarming story instead of what it is (at least in my opinion): horribly offensive to real trans people.

[suzifrommd]

Isn't this kind of upsetting? We're always accused of ulterior motives for transitioning (she's not really a man, she just wanted the privilege, and other BS), and here's someone who actually did it.

[bev_c]

I am confused. She had top surgery and changed her birth certificate so that she is now he. How does this differ from any other F -> M journey other than there is no taking of T?

There are MTFs that socially transition but who do not take E.

I fail to see what the issue is

[bev_c]

bev_c, the issue is that she is not trans.  She didn't transition socially,

Nope. Sorry.

There have been lots of arguments on this very forum about whether you need to transition socially to be "trans". Personally I think you do to be transsexual rather than transgender  but the andro/non-binary people might disagree. I am very much into the "gender binary" because non-binary stuff confuses me no end, but over the years this very forum seems to be more and more non-binary.

Without naming names there are people on here who have grown breasts live as males. How is that different from a woman to removes her breasts and lives as female?

It upsets people because we have to promise the skeptics repeatedly, indefinitely, in a rather undignified way that we're not interested in shenanigans, we just want equal rights.  This is an abuse of the 'privilege.'

I understand. I feel the same way, but I also am aware that I seem to be increasingly out of step with the trans* world and I no longer really feel comfortable in it. Poor old binary-me simply does not fit in.

[bev_c]

The clear message of the video is that she is not trans - she just wanted to get married, and found a way to do it.

Well, it would seem to be a good argument in favour of same-sex marriage to stop people being driven to this sort of extreme.

I think part of the problem is that as the term "transgender" tries to squeeze more and more people under its inclusive umbrella, more "edge" cases like this one will crop up and the media will seize on them because it makes a good story and then the haters will latch on to these extreme stories because it is fuel to their bigotry.

I do not know where the line should be drawn, but I increasingly feel that there should be one. We are a vulnerable enough bunch as it is and it would be highly ironic if our own openess and inclusivity was our undoing. If we struggle to decide whether or not this is a trans issue, what will the average Joe make of it?

Maybe someone should ask her how she views her own identity?

[Lonicera]

I'm incredibly conflicted over this since there are several possibilities that all impact on my reaction. For instance, if she's trans but simply doesn't realise it yet or is a non-binary person trying to navigate a binary culture then I'd be very supportive. Most importantly to me, I hope she finds happiness and has a fantastically loving marriage.

Having said that, the person's identity does not change the framing of this and how it was presented. It doesn't mitigate the damage done by presenting something intimate, and often arduous, as some kind of superficial legal manipulation. Whether she's trans or not doesn't change the fact she may have been party to something that feeds into the deceiver trope and makes fundamental identities seem like a silly fiction. If the media have presented it in this way without her consent and knowledge then that's understandable but if she knowingly helped to create this narrative then it's unacceptable.

Unfortunately, I think the average reader of this will not conclude that the lack of civil marriage rights or absurdly inconsistent gatekeeping of trans people is the problem but that trans rights and recognition are the problem.